Animated Title in Motion

In this tutorial, we will be creating a text title in a Motion project. To give the title a formal style, we will add a simple solid colored rectangle behind the title. Then we will apply the same Motion behavior to both objects in order for them to fade in and out together.

We will begin with an existing MotionR project that we have been creating over the last few tutorials. At this point, we have an animated Bokeh background and one design element, a bouquet of flowers, on the Canvas. The bouquet will fade out at 6 seconds into the Timeline, to finish the first “scene” of our product trailer. We will apply this same fade out behavior to the rectangle and text object that we will add to the Canvas.

Our first step will be to lock all the layers that we will not be working with in the Layers pane. Click the small lock icon at the right for the BG group layer and the Bouquet layer just above.

Set the Playhead to the beginning of the Timeline. With the scene1 group selected and using the Rectangle tool, draw a rectangle the full width of the Canvas and an inch above the bouquet. Because we have the scene1 group selected, the rectangle will be added to the scene1 group. We will adjust the height of the rectangle after we set the size of the font for the text title.

From the HUD, check the box to apply a Drop Shadow to the rectangle and set the Opacity for the drop shadow to a subtle 40%. Although we are keeping the default white color for the rectangle, notice that you can also set the Fill and Outline colors in the HUD.

We want the first title to be on the Canvas for only scene 1 of the trailer. In the Timeline, drag the right edge of the rectangle layer to the left until it is only six seconds in duration from the start of the trailer.

With the Playhead at the start of the Timeline, expand the Bouquet group in the Layers pane and select the Fade In/Fade Out behavior that we applied to the Bouquet layer in the last tutorial. Right-click and copy the behavior.

Select the Rectangle layer and paste the behavior to apply it to the rectangle. Now the rectangle will fade in and out along with the Bouquet for the same 6 seconds duration.

With the scene1 group layer selected, click the Canvas with the Text tool. Add the title text. You can see that the text becomes the label for the new text layer in the Layers pane. Open the HUD and choose a Font from the menu. Set the font size and color of your choice. Set the text to center alignment.

Drag the right edge of the text layer in the Timeline to the left until it ends at the six sections.

If necessary, adjust the width of the rectangle so that the text fits nicely within.

As you did before, copy and paste the Fade In/Fade Out behavior to apply it to the text layer. Play the animation to verify that all three objects on the Canvas fade in and out together.

Our next step will be to align the text and the rectangle together.

Select both the text and the rectangle. Click Object - Alignment - Align Horizontal Centers to align both objects together horizontally. Repeat this step but choose Align Vertical Centers to align the objects vertically.

Let’s make another adjustment. It would be nice if the bouquet was visible at the start of the trailer. Let’s change the Fade in behavior opacity to 100%.

Unlock the Bouquet layer in the Layers pane. With the Playhead at the beginning of the Timeline, select the Fade In/Fade Out behavior under the Bouquet on the Timeline. In the Behaviors tab in the Inspector, set the Fade In Time to 0. The flowers should become visible on the Canvas. This will set the opacity of the bouquet to 100% at the start of the Timeline but the flowers will still fade out at 6 seconds into the Timeline.